Lost without a Clue
by Innocent heart2
Summary: Ambushed and stolen away from Jiraiya during their training trip, Naruto is found three years later not quite who he used to be. Rated M for safety. Main pairing is NaruHina. Beware slight Sakura bashing.
1. Prologue

_**Mizu: First off, I just wanna say that this story is strictly NaruHina and will bash Sakura somewhat (because I hate her...I really, really do). Second, please do NOT expect regular updates because I am actually very busy with other things in life. The only reason that I am uploading this first chapter is because my fiance is amazing and has convinced me to. He's been a consistent source of inspiration as well as helping me brainstorm out portions of this story (and several others). He has also been willing to constantly proof what I show him so that is also awesome. Anyways, I will try to keep up with updates but I will make no promises.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. The ending would be hell of a lot different if I did...you guys have know idea how much the ending ticks me off but that is for neither now or later.**_

* * *

 _Prologue: The Loss of Uzumaki Naruto_

* * *

The day started off as any other for those in the shinobi village of Konoha. The countless number of ninja went about their days. Some left on missions while others were unlucky to get the low ranked missions like catching their daimyo's devil cat Tora. Other's still spent their time training. Those that were would warily pick their training grounds, praying that they wouldn't run into the keepers of youth.

Senju Tsunade, the villager leader whom held the title of Godaime Hokage, smiled to herself as she looked out over her villager. She had to admit that despite the horrible memories that still haunted her, she was incredibly happy that she came back. Sure the council was a pain in her ass but being able to watch over the citizens in the home her family created was worth It.

"Maybe I should thank the brat when he and the pervert get back," Tsunade chuckled.

Just then, he assistant and close friend Shizune rushed in with a frantic looking Toad Sage Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya? What the hell a-" she started to snap.

" **IS NARUTO HERE!?** " The white haired sannin yelled, rushing forward and grabbing her by her shoulders.

"Huh? Why would he be here!?" Tsunade snapped, eyes widening exponentially, "He should be with you! You and him left the village two months ago!"

"Shit!" Jiraiya cursed, beginning to pace around the office.

"Jiraiya..." Tsunade growled, "Where. Is. Naruto?"

"W-We got jumped," Jiraiya shakily started, "This shouldn't have been a problem but they had a seal master with them. They slapped something on the both of us in their initial attack."

"What!?" The women gasped.

"They were skilled. All jonin in level at the very least. And those seals," Jiraiya growled, "They caused my chakra to fluctuate so wildly that I could barely use any jutsu let alone attach to the trees. And Naruto had it so much worse..."

"What do you mean?" Shizune nervously asked.

"He has so much chakra that it was obvious that the fluctuations were painful to him," Jiraiya explained, "He couldn't focus any todo anything. Once they separated us, he was a sitting duck."

"Please don't tell me they-," Tsunade whispered.

He shook his head, "No. Once Naruto realized that they seemed to be after him, he took off running. I tried to follow the best I could but I lost sight of the kid where he dove off a cliff to get away..."

"He what?!"

"Calm down. It wasn't that high of one and there was a river at its base, "Jiraiya sighed, continuing his pacing, "But there's two problems with his escape plan."

"Other than getting separated from you?!" Tsunade roared.

"One, it had just rained the night before and the river was at flood stage," Jiraiya stated, ignoring his old teammate, "He was pulled under immediately and washed away before he came back up."

"Oh god..." Shizune whispered.

"What's the other problem?"

"...That river flows directly into Iwa..."

" _ **WHAT!?**_ "

"What the hell were you two doing anywhere near Iwa!?" Tsunade screamed, "You know better than anyone that if Naruto's seen by a single one of their shinobi, he's as good as dead!"

"Don't yell at me Tsunade! I already knew it was risky as hell! But I had a contact who had gotten a lead on the damn Akatsuki! From where we were before we entered Tsuchi no Kuni it would have taken a week for me to get there and back! Would you have rathered I'd leave him unprotected?!" Jiraiya yelled back.

"I would have rathered you avoid the damn place altogether!" Tsunade slammed her fist down through her desk, "Did you at least tell him why the people of Iwa will be after his blood?!"

"Of course not!"

"Why not!?"

"Because he wasn't ready!"

"Bullshit he isn't! He's already faced numerous S-class ninja after his head as well as a fucking village that would no sooner have him drawn and quartered before giving him the rank he deserves, let alone treat him as a human being!"

"This isn't the time, Tsunade..."

"No! This is the perfect fucking time!" Tsunade roared, face bright red in her rage, "You are literally the _only_ reason that he isn't a chunin already! When the damn council decided on the new chunin, it was right before I became Hokage! We both were sitting in that room while they voted. Can I tell you how surprised I was to learn that he managed to defeat a Hyuuga prodigy with only his shadow clones, his wit, and his extremely fragile control of the fox's chakra?! How proud I was of him?"

"Tsunade..."

"But then all the judges and civilians voted for him to remain a genin!" Tsunade continued, rushing to stand in front of the man now avoiding her gaze, "Very few of the clans heads said anything positive about Naruto. It honestly pissed me off that they were going to deny him something he deserved. Then you stood up..."

Jiraiya moved to turn away only to find the blonde there.

"I was so certain that his master and fucking godfather would stand up for him," Tsunade growled, "But you didn't. You started to tear him apart, pointed out every single flaw. All of which were understandable when you looked at how not a sing

"If you hated my call so much, why the hell didn't _**you**_ promote him?!" Jiraiya retorted, "You're the Hokage!"

"I didn't because I respected your opinion!" Tsunade snapped, "At the time, you knew Naruto better than I did! Despite what I thought, I thought that you must have had a good reason. But I was wrong to think that..."

"What the hell do you want me to say, Tsunade?!" Jiraiya snapped back.

"I want you to admit that you're afraid of letting Naruto grow! You don't want him to become a chunin because that means telling him he is not only heir to a powerful clan but the son of his fucking idol! You're afraid of letting him get stronger and I have no bloody damn idea why!" Tsunade accused.

"So what if I am!?" Jiraiya roared, "If it means keeping him safe, so what!? If he got promoted or told the truth, he would be in more danger than he could ever handle!"

"Oh for god's sake, Jiraiya!" Tsunade threw her hands up, "That load of bull is bigger than Gamabunta! If that was what you were afraid of, you wouldn't be dragging him through possible enemy territory! You and he would be here in the village, beating every fucking jutsu and technique you could into his hard head!

"No, you're afraid of something petty!" Tsunade continued, "You're afraid of letting go of the past! The brat looks nearly identical to his old man after all, it must be so easy to forget about everything and pretend he's still alive! But you don't want to lose him again or have him grow apart from you like Minato did!"

"Yes, alright!? Yes!...You're completely right," Jiraiya erupted before buying his face in his hands, "Minato was like my son, Tsunade. I loved him so much but when the war started, he had to grow up so quickly and I started to lose him. I couldn't be the pillar of strength and comfort he needed so he turned Kushina. But then he tried to bring me back in by naming me Naruto's godfather...Then he was gone. I left the village and avoided Naruto until I saw just how much he reminded me of his father and I saw a second chance. I just didn't want to lose him again.

"But what good does me admitting all this do for us now?" Jiraiya threw up his hands.

"Because as soon as Naruto is safely back in the village, you had better start acting like his fucking godfather," Tsunade growled in his face, "Because if you don't, I won't give you another chance to. Shizune!"

"H-Hai, Tsunade-sama?" The raven flinched.

"Summon as many free shinobi as we have! And bring me the highest priority messenger hawk! I need to send the Tsuchikage a message..."

"R-Right away!" The medic bowed before sprinting out of the office.

"I meant what I said, Jiraiya," Tsunade said with her back to him, "IF you don't shape up, I will make sure you never see him again. Naruto deserves a family, not someone who ignores him for a ghost..."

* * *

 _Meanwhile..._

Naruto groaned as he awoke from his short nap. Wincing as he sat up, he looked through the exposed roots of the large tree he hid under. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw no indication that anyone had passed by. Cradling his left arm to his chest, he picked up his ragged orange jacket from where he had used it as a cushion. With a grunt, he slipped it into a sling for his currently useless arm. Slowly, he managed to crawl out from the exposed roots. Nearby laid a thick pointed stick roughly the same height as him. Picking it up, the blonde used it to support his full weight as he carefully eased his way onto his feet. His left leg straightened to take on some of his weight. His right however, was kept bent and help little to no weight. He calve was greatly swollen and loosely wrapped up. The teen bit his lip as he readjusted the make shift splint.

Naruto was far from stupid. He was no genius and was definitely was not the smartest kid but that did not make him stupid. When he had made his escape, he knew he was screwed if he got caught. His chakra refused to work with him and whatever the hell they did to him cut him off from the Kyuubi. So when he landed in the river, he tried his damnest not to get hurt. He knew that any sort of injury that rendered him immobile would result in his capture. Any open would result in death. Despite him trying not to, the raging waters slammed him into various rocks and banks before he could drag himself out.

As soon as he had, he noted the horrible pain emanating from his obviously broken left forearm. Thankfully, the bone hadn't broken through his skin. Before he did anything else, the jinchuriki tore his jacket off and made a splint and sling for the useless limb. Next, he inspected the thrumming pain in his right calve. He wasn't sure what to make of that particular injury. It hurt like hell to put weight on it but he had felt worse. Regardless, he knew that he had injured it in some way but just how bad he didn't know. It was because of that, Naruto next set to finding a strong enough walking stick to help keep some of his weight off the leg.

Once he was satisfied with his quick treatments, he had set off. While he hadn't done the best at the academy, Naruto had actually taken the survival lessons to heart when he was younger. Whether it was a general interest or necessity from surviving his abusive childhood was anybody's guess. Drawing upon these lessons, Naruto knew better than to stay in one spot and wait for Jiraiya. That would be suicide if the enemy stumbled upon him. The next lesson he used was leaving as little trace as he could. Every morning he would ensure that nobody would think anything larger than a raccoon had slept there. He never set any fires, choosing instead to force out a small fire jutsu to cook food. That in itself sometimes was impossible which meant he went hungry until he found edible plants.

The final two lessons he drew heavily upon now were fairly simple. First off was to only rest for short periods of time. Over the years, Naruto had become an expert in doing so. The only time he got a full night's sleep was when he felt completely safe. Truth be told, that had never happened until he was in Team 7 and even then it wasn't until after their mission in Wave. Sure, if anyone ever thought of asking his team, they would most likely say he slept like a log. But that couldn't be further from the truth. In reality, it was an act that he had perfected so not to raise suspicion when he knew he was being watched. Most would grow suspicious if they ever realized that the blonde rarely slept more than three hours a night. One of the few advantages of the fox he supposed. So long as he got at least a few hours every other day, he was good to go.

Not that that mattered at the moment. Being cut off from the demon and injured meant he needed far more rest than he had ever had before...

Naruto flinched as his well-trained hearing picked up on footsteps approaching him. As quick as he could, he hid in the foliage around the trees. Soon after, a travelling merchant passed by, pack of goods light and wallet heavy. Naruto eyed the man cautiously. It was strange the man was here but judging by what little the man carried the blond soon came to realize that he must have been a black market merchant. The jinchuriki swallowed heavily as he spotted the man's canteen. He was so thirsty...

Despite his temptation, Naruto did not move. Even if he had been healthy he would not engage the man. It was far too risky. The man clearly dealt with the people of the underworld and most likely knew some things to keep himself safe. And Naruto couldn't afford to raise any sort of ruckus. Though he probably wouldn't have attacked him if he was indeed a normal civilian merchant. No, that was also too risky. After all, that was the final lesson Naruto held close to heart.

Don't. Trust. Anyone.

Naruto never fully trusted anyone to begin with until they proved to be deserving of it. Same with respect. But he wasn't in ally territory thus the lesson's meaning deepened. Anyone here could be an enemy. A simple merchant could alert an entire village of his presence and they would come down hard on his head. He definitely knew that he would be in trouble if any Iwa ninja found him. Konoha and Iwa had never been friendly after all.

Naruto waited until he couldn't hear the man before limping out of his hiding spot. He needed to get back to Konoha. Or even one of their allied villages. Hell, any village outside of Tsuchi no Kuni. Just somewhere he could send Tsunade baa-chan a message to come save his ass.

"Man, she's gonna kill Ero-sennin when she finds out about this," Naruto darkly chuckled.

He didn't blame the guy for not being able to protect him or anything. It was more along the lines of joking with himself to stay sane.

Just then, he heard a pop as he felt his good leg's ankle roll out underneath him, sending him bouncing and tumbling down a steep but thankfully short cliff. The back left side of his head crashed into a boulder at the bottom before the rest of his body came to a rest. Naruto groaned, bringing his good hand to check for blood. He had definitely been hit harder before but a concussion would only make things worse for him. Wincing, he craned his neck to see his dislocated ankle.

"Damn," he growled, "A rock must have given way while I was walking."

He was just about to try and pop it back into place when all his senses went into overdrive. He could hear people coming his way. Ninja. They were close. His nose twitched as the faint scent of blood hit him. Most likely not friendly ninja.

Frantically, Naruto forced his ankle back into the socket before scrambling to his feet. He needed to hide! Looking around, the blonde realized he had fallen into a small clearing with few hiding places. Spotting a nearby felled tree, he began hobbling as fast as he could towards it. He had lost his walking stick in the fall which meant his right leg could bare none of his weight. His newly injured ankle couldn't either as Naruto found four steps later. Naruto's teeth punctured his lower lip as his entire body crashed down on top of his broken arm. Vision spinning, he desperately clawed his way toward the tree with his only good limb.

Just as he reached it, five different shinobi surrounded him. Glaring fearfully at them, Naruto noted that none of them looked like anyone he had seen from the elemental nations. Their facial features were slightly larger than anyone from Hi no Kuni or Kaze no Kuni. True, he had seen very few very few people from other nations but from what he had seen, he knew these people definitely were not among them. Add that to the fact that not one of the men held a single village symbol on them and Naruto was terrified for his life. Even rogue shinobi carried some sort of visual clue as to where they had been from. It was a subconscious pride they all had.

"Wh-Who the hell are you guys?!" Naruto demanded, desperately trying to get his still fluctuating chakra to cooperate.

"Just a group that wants to take control of this world," the closest man who had cold gray eyes and black hair smirked, "And we need you for that, my boy."

"A-Akatsuki?!" Naruto hissed, eyes darting around.

"No, no," the same man laughed, "We have little interest in your furry parasite."

"Wh-What...?' Naruto gaped, cold running cold as all five men started marking hand signs.

"We want you, heir to the Uzumaki..."

* * *

 ** _Mizu: And that is the beginning of "Lost without a Clue." I hope that you guys all enjoy it~!_**

 ** _Naruto: Oh god, you're back! No! I thought I was free!_**

 ** _Mizu: Never! Anyways, as always, I love all reviews and critiques~! Ciao for now everyone~!_**


	2. Chapter 1

_**Mizu: Fanfiction is acting up tonight...Any who, you guys know how I said in the last chapter not to expect frequent uploads? Well...that's after tonight. My wonderful fiance has also convinced me to upload and work on as much as I can and upload it tonight. So...there might be one more chapter coming up some time tonight. Not completely sure about that but...Maybe?  
**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Naruto would be a fucking amazing father! I mean, dammit Kishi! Naruto would be such a "spoil my kids rotten and smother them with all my love" kind of father! Not this aloof "job only" dude I've seen you create! Hell, almost every single fan piece I've ever read has solved that problem with one of the only jutsu you gave the guy! Clones do the work, he loves his family to death! Gah!**_

 _ **...sorry...I really don't like how the series ended and I REALLY don't like what Kishi did with the characters afterward...**_

* * *

 _Chapter 1: Finding Naruto_

* * *

 _Three years later..._

Hinata growled to herself as she and her team jumped through the sparsely spaced trees of Tsuchi no Kuni's forests. Another failed attempt. Behind her was an overly cautious Kiba and Shino. The young men both knew better than to do anything to provoke the Hyuuga. Neither could blame her for her attitude. After all, they had failed once again in their mission to find the boy she loved. Failed to find Uzumaki Naruto.

Akamaru, now a giant hound that his master/partner could ride, whined sadly. His nose twitched with the familiar scent of the missing blonde but he made no attempt to inform Kiba. There was no point to. Konoha trackers had long ago learned that even though they could sense or find evidence of Naruto they would never find him through those means. Naruto's scent mixed with his blood was somehow scattered large areas. As were faint trace of his chakra. It made it virtually impossible for any tracker to find him. Though, they would occasionally find areas with large pools of his blood suggesting that he was still fighting to be free.

Iwa had been helpful ever since Tsunade had threatened war if they found out that they were involved despite the fact that Naruto technically didn't have any reason to be there. They allowed Konoha to send a tracking and search team once a month to scour their lands so long as there was evidence that the blonde was still alive. Occasionally, they would send out teams to assist them. Even so, tensions between the villages were at an all-time high. Minor scuffles had sprung up between teams every now and then. Then there was the fact that Iwa restricted them to a single team of no more than five for two weeks each month. Add to this all other factors and it was no wonder that they never found him.

The two men eyed Hinata carefully. Out of everyone their age, she had taken Naruto's disappearance the worst. She demanded to be put on all search teams even when she was just a genin. However, it was because of her rank that she wasn't allowed to. Instead, she threw herself into training and decimated anyone who stood in her way. Hinata was the only one from Konoha's Rookie Twelve to make it to the finals that following Chunin Exam/ Nobody stood a chance against the determined Hyuuga. After she became a chunin, Hinata rocketed up the ranks to become jonin one year after Naruto went MIA.

Everyone else from Naruto's age group followed close behind her. They were all determined to bring their friend home. Well...except for one...

Sakura was far more concerned with bringing Sasuke back. She never once joined one of the many search missions. Instead, she immersed herself in her medical studies and self-interests. Even Ino couldn't believe her friend. Whenever Sakura was asked why she wasn't helping to find her teammate, she would just say that it was Naruto and that he'd be fine. That had not gone over well with Hinata who at the time tried to rip the pinkette's throat out...

The two girls never got along now. While Hinata tried to be civil, Sakura would inevitably say something to set the heiress off. As such, everyone else had learned to keep the two as far from each other as possible.

"Stupid old fool," the boys heard Hinata growl.

They understood her frustration. They had just found a few area where Naruto's chakra and scent had never been right before the Tsuchikage sent word that their two weeks were up. To avoid sparking a war, the three begrudgedly began heading home. They tried to keep an eye out but it did little good. All three felt as if they had lost their chance to find their friend.

Hinata was about to activate her byakugan to check their surroundings when the forest before them exploded. The Konoha shinobi immediately were on guard. Slowly, the dust settled enough that the three could make out a large gorged out trail roughly three meters in width. Startled, Hinata activated her eyes to see three groups of unknown shinobi headed their way following the trail of the gorge. She also spotted a heavily wounded person right where the trail ended. They were alive, but just barely. Behind her, she saw both Shino and Kiba trembling.

"What's wrong?" She quietly asked, keeping an eye on the groups.

"Y-You've got to be kidding," Kiba swallowed as Akamaru tugged on his jacket, "Sh-Shino..."

"W-We mustn't get our hopes up just yet," Shino readjusted his glasses, "I will engage the approaching enemies. You two...go confirm our suspicions."

With that, the insect user rushed off toward where his bugs told him the enemy was.

"Shino, wait!" Hinata ordered, "You know we are forbidden to engage anyone while we're in Tsuchi no Kuni!"

"We don't have time to worry about that!" Kiba growled as he and Akamaru jumped to where the unknown person laid.

"Kiba! Don't! We don't even known what village he belongs to!" Hinata hissed as she followed suit.

"You're wrong," Kiba whispered as Akamaru whined whilst rubbing its muzzle against the unconscious stranger's face. Kiba gritted his teeth as tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, "Kami...what the hell happened to you, dude? I've never seen you so messed up."

"What are you talking about, Kiba?!" Hinata demanded, "Who is this man?"

"Who the hell do you think it is, Hinata?!" Kiba snapped just as their attention was ripped away from the man before them to see Shino having a hard time with all of the enemies, "Shit! Let's go Akamaru! Hinata, heal him as much as you can so we can get the hell out of here!"

"What!?" Hinata gasped as her teammate rushed off to provide backup.

The man before her groaned slightly, startling the confused Hyuuga. He shifted slightly as if trying to get back to his feet but ended up failing horribly. With her eyes still active, she could understand why. He had multiple slight fractures to all of the bones in his limbs as well as a major concussion. Several of his organs showed signs of massive bruising and what little skin he had visible was not much better. Turning her attention to his outer injuries, she suppressed a shutter as she took in just how much blood covered him. Gashes littered his body and his clothes were nothing but dull brown rags. She could barely make out the tan complexion of his flesh. For a split second, she swore that she saw sunlight yellow in his hair before his blood finished drenching it red, not that there was much there to begin with. It was shaved nearly to the man's skull that it was a wonder that she almost had thought he was bald. He coughed violently, even more blood splattering out. Then, his eyes fluttered open.

Hinata couldn't help but gasp at the sapphires that looked up at her. It couldn't be...

Quickly and carefully, Hinata ripped the sleeve off of her pale purple jacket. Her hands shook as she poured a little water onto the fabric. Even more so as she gently pressed it against on of the man's cheek. He winced slightly at the cold moisture but made no move to flee her touch. He just kept watching, analyzing her every move as if he was expecting her to do something. Swallowing heavily, Hinata wiped his cheek clean of the blood that was caked on it. Yet another gasp escaped her, dropping the fabric in favor of cupping her mouth as tears slipped from her pupilless eyes. Whiskers. There they were on this man's cheeks. The marks that belonged to only one person in the world.

"N-Naruto-kun," Hinata whimpered before launching herself at him and pulling him into a tight embrace, "Y-You're alive!"

Naruto groaned weakly as the woman squeezed him tightly. What was going on...?

"What the hell are Konoha ninja doing in Tsuchi no Kuni?" one of the enemies growled, somehow slipping past both Shino and Kiba, "Shouldn't you tree huggers be back in your lands spouting about how great your precious will of fire bullshit is?"

Hinata growled back in response, clutching Naruto's weakened self to her chest, "I won't let you hurt him anymore!"

The man scoffed. Hinata's eyes twitched as they automatically inspected all there was about the man. Average chunin's worth of chakra. Light clothing and only a single pouch of shuriken or other tools on him. Hair freely flowing and no visible injuries. He was obviously a distance fighter then. But if he was, why hadn't he attacked them already? Surely he must have known about her clan. All shinobi within the elemental nations knew of the more prominent clans of Konoha. Her eyes were such a dead giveaway that it would have been impossible not to have at least guessed that she had a bloodline of some sort. Any ninja knew that dealing with someone who has a kekkei genkai is no walk in the park. So why was he so casually strolling towards her? Was she truly that unintimidating?

"What do you mean you won't let me?" he smirked as he exaggeratedly shrugged his arms, "He's our property. Do you see a Konoha symbol on him anywhere? He's not one of your people."

"He is," Hinata growled, glaring daggers at the man's chakra core, "He is a shinobi of Konohagakure and I will protect him with my life!"

"I think you're confused missy," the man shook his head, that damnable smirk firmly in place, "He's ours. We found him three years ago and he's been our special little play thing since then. So it don't matter if he was a Konoha scumbag before. He ain't now."

"Bastard," Hinata hissed, cradling the blonde as she flared her chakra a bit.

"Konoha..." Naruto weakly mumbled into her chest, "...home..."

"Shhh," Hinata soothed, eying the man as he came closer, "Don't worry Naruto-kun. You'll be home soon enough."

The man chuckled darkly, "Yes, Null. You'll back be to the lab soon enough."

Hinata's attention snapped back up to the man, "Lab? What have you done to Naruto-kun?!"

"Like I'm gonna tell you," the man snickered, "Not that you could do anything with the information since you're just a stupid little gir-"

The man was cut off when Hinata, who had just gently set the blonde back on his back, flew forward and sent a massive pulse of chakra through his chakra core, shattering it instantly. Next, she sent another pulse from his stomach and up through his upper torso. Pain was all he knew for the last for moments of his life as he looked into the girl's light lavender eyes. A shiver of terror went down his spine as he saw the image of a demonic looking lion within them. The very next second, Hinata sent one last pulse of chakra through his skull, causing his brain to explode. Snarling at the man, the woman quickly returned to the heavily breathing Naruto.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun..." Hinata whispered as she finally began to heal him, "I'll protect you."

Hinata said nothing us for the next couple of moments as sounds of Kiba and Akamaru's Gatsuga's as well as Shino's insects finished off the last of the men that had been pursuing their friend. That changed though when Hinata watched as all of the chakra within Naruto's system changed. One second, it was in its blue passive state, the next it was glowing green just like the healing chakra she had been using seconds prior. The change was almost instantaneous as well and began the task of mending all injuries on his person.

"Wh-What...?" Hinata whispered in awe and surprise, "Wh-What did they do to you?"

* * *

The journey back to Konoha was slow going. Once Kiba and Shino had finished up disposing of the men who had been after Naruto, said blonde had fallen unconscious once more. Hinata explained to them what she had seen happen to his chakra but he must have been under an enormous amount of stress and it was likely that he hadn't been able to sleep much over the last three years. As such, it wasn't unreasonable to expect him to be out of it until they made it back to Konoha. This, however, posed a problem. How to transport him?

It was extremely likely that whoever had been able to kidnap Naruto in the first place would soon send more men out to retrieve him if nobody returned to wherever they were based. This meant that they needed to be prepared for a fight at all times. However, since Naruto was unable to travel himself, someone would have to carry him at all times. This meant that they would always be at a disadvantage. Shino had offered because he did not need to physically engage the enemy but this also meant that he would not be able to optimally protect him as well. Eventually they came to the decision that they would have Akamaru carry Naruto on his back. This way all three were able to fight and if things got really hairy, the giant hound would be able to escape.

Their travels were slow going compared to what they should have been. Since Akamaru was the one carrying their friend, they were unable to stick to the trees. This forced them to the ground where they were exposed to attack. As such, they opted to constantly be on the move. The group only stopped for a few hours a day to rest. It wasn't until they crossed over the border of Kusa no Kuni and Hi no Kuni that they took a moment to send a message back to Konoha. While they awaited their orders or reinforcements, the three took to cleaning the blood and dirt from their friend.

Hinata was currently tenderly washing his head and face while Akamaru rested. Shino was on lookout while Kiba was tasked with finding a suitable place to set up camp. She frowned at his slightly sunken in features. None of them had noticed till now just how skinny Naruto was. His ribs and pelvis stuck out slightly and there was little muscle mass anywhere on his body. It made her wonder just how he had been able to get away.

"Hinata, I found a spot nearby that we can set up camp," Kiba stated, landing next to the concerned woman, "We should move Naruto over there now before doing anything else."

"Right," Hinata sighed, tracing a finger along where golden spikes once laid, "...Has Shino received anything from Konoha yet?"

Kiba shook his head as he and Akamaru gently lifted the unconscious teen, "Not yet. But we're far enough away from home to expect some delay..."

"Do you think Tsunade-sama will send us some reinforcements?" Hinata asked, following close behind her teammate.

"Most likely," Kiba nodded, "Bet you ten ryo that it's Lee and Gai. Those two are the fastest out of everyone and will be able to reach here by morning if they set out tonight."

"That's only if we stay here all night," Hinata stated, pausing when Kiba stopped in a small clearing, "...what the hell did they do to him, Kiba?"

"...I don't know," the Inuzuka sighed after a moment, gently setting his friend back onto the grass, "I can't say that his scent's changed but...I dunno, it's different somehow..."

"Different?"

"As in it's incredibly more potent..." Kiba said, staring at Naruto, "It's no wonder why we never found him if this is what he smells like up close..."

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked, taking up her spot next to her beloved.

"Its kind of like the difference between when you smell the perfume of someone as they pass by you and taking a huge sniff of the same perfume straight from the bottle," Kiba explained, "They smell the same but the latter is so potent that it is impossible to ignore. We've been running around chasing our tails for so long because we thought that the "perfume" we smelt was coming straight from the bottle when in reality the person it belonged to had passed by long ago."

"It's the same with his chakra," Shino added abruptly, landing next to them, "My insects have been going completely insane whenever I stand near Naruto. They keep telling me that his chakra has vastly grown in size as well as increased in its potency."

"That means that I haven't been seeing things," Hinata stated quietly, "Whenever I look at Naruto with my byakugan, I keep swearing that his coils have at least tripled in size from when he was last in the village. The density of his chakra is also outstanding and it honestly looks as if his body is constantly creating so much that it has to continuously force it out."

Shino nodded, "That would make sense considering that we have never been able to pinpoint where his chakra came from although it saturated areas. If what you see is true, then it is very likely that the areas we searched in the past had been vacated as much as a few days earlier."

Hinata nodded before sighing, "I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. We found him and we're bringing him home."

"Right," the two boys nodded, beginning to set up their camp.

"Kiba? Do you think you could make one of the instant ramen cups I packed?" Hinata asked as she tenderly set Naruto's head back onto her lap.

"Sure but...why?" Kiba and Shino exchanged looks.

"He's so malnourished but I don't want to wake him," Hinata said softly, "The broth will hopefully be good for him."

Kiba smiled softly at her before grabbing her bag, "Any particular flavor?"

"Beef was always his favorite," Hinata smiled absentmindedly.

"Beef it is," Kiba nodded, snatching a package before returning to setting up camp, "Just make sure to eat something too, Hinata. We don't want you falling behind because you were to worried about him to eat."

"I will," Hinata reassured, returning to stroking where golden locks should have been.

"How is she?" Shino asked once the two were sure that Hinata was no longer paying attention.

"Can't say for sure," Kiba shrugged, starting the fire, "But I have never seen Hinata kill anybody so brutally before...she's always gone for quick deaths. One strike to the heart and be done with it all. She's always hated dealing unneeded pain after all...but she wanted this guy to suffer for that split second."

Shino nodded, remembering how even his insects were frightened by the woman's attack. She put so much chakra into all of her moves that each would have killed someone three times over, "She's been...distant since then..."

"Can you blame her?" Kiba snorted, "She's loved that guy since before we all graduated the academy. When he went missing, I swore she nearly died. You saw how desperate she became, Shino. Naruto was the person she had always inspired to become strong for and then he wasn't there. Her whole purpose in life was suddenly gone. Or rather, it changed from being strong enough to stand beside him to being strong enough to save him."

"It certainly does not help that there were so many that disapproved of her going after Naruto," Shino added, sending out his insects to check the perimeter, "Mostly from civilians and some of her family."

"All of which she defied," Kiba sighed, running a hand through his hair, "She definitely made more enemies than friends these last few years..."

"We all have," Shino stated coolly, "It's as if the only ones that cared about Naruto as a person were those in our graduating class. All other shinobi only cared to find him because apparently he contains a secret of the village..."

"Still wonder what that secret is but whatever," Kiba shrugged, "Tsunade-sama would have told us if she felt it was important enough."

"It probably has something to do with his unknown lineage," Shino thought aloud, "He could very well be the last of a clan or bloodline that we do not know of."

"What makes you say that?" Kiba asked with a raised eyebrow.

"His name," Shino supplied, "Uzumaki, according to village records, were a clan of a fellow hidden village that were closely related to the Senju. They went virtually extinct during the last war but there were a seldom few that managed to survive. It is highly likely that Naruto is one of the last members of said clan and thus it would be vastly imperative to retrieve him to help keep any possible secrets from our founding clan away from our enemies."

"Makes sense I guess," Kiba nodded, preparing the ramen, "I mean, nobody knows who his folks were and I guess that they could have been refugees that died during Kyuubi's attack. And nobody would notice his family name since the clan was already dead," Kiba shook his head, "All this wondering will do us no good. If we really want to know why, we just need to wait till Naruto wakes up and ask him."

"You're right," Shino agreed just as a messenger hawk circled above them, "It appears we have our orders."

"You go check them," Kiba stated, pouring the broth from the ramen into a travel bowl before giving Akamaru the noodles, "I'll take up first watch while you and Hinata rest."

"Right," Shino nodded before jumping to intercept the bird.

"Hinata," Kiba announced as he approached his other teammate, "Here's that broth."

"Thank you," Hinata smiled slightly, taking the bowl, "I saw the messenger hawk. Is Shino checking it?"

"Yeah,," Kiba nodded, "I'm taking first watch and Shino'll probably take the next one. You just focus on tending to Naruto, okay?"

"Right," Hinata stated, slowly lowering a spoonful of the warm broth to Naruto's lips. Instinctively, the teen's lips parted and allowed it to slip through. Neither of the shinobi said a word as they watched their weakened friend slowly drink the broth provided to him. After a few spoonfuls, Kiba couldn't take it anymore and headed for the trees. His giant partner hound did not follow him, choosing instead to stick close to Naruto. Akamaru lied down next to the blonde, allowing his own body heat to help keep him warm.

"Hinata," Shino announced as he landed next to her as she continued to feed Naruto a spoonful at a time, "Tsunade-sama is sending Team Gai and Shizune along with a team of Anbu to meet us. If they don't arrive by sunrise, we're to make our way to Tonika village and await for them there."

Hinata nodded as she continued her task.

"...how is he?" Shino asked, sitting down next to her.

"Most of his wounds have healed accept for his left arm and right leg," Hinata stated sadly, "Those look as if they have been improperly healed time after time for these past three years...They've never been properly set and thus they've had to be rebroken multiple times. Honestly...it's amazing that he was able to even stand on that leg, let alone run."

"I...see," Shino nodded.

"He's also been starved," Hinata growled, tightly gripping the bowl in her grasp, "Beaten over and over and denied basic human rights."

"Hinata?" Shino eyed the bowl as cracks quickly formed.

"I want to kill them, Shino," she snarled, normally peaceful face scrunched up with malice, "I want to make them all suffer for what they've done to him. How dare they do this to Naruto-kun?! What did he ever do to deserve that sort of torture?!"

Shino sighed, setting a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Nothing. And that's why it infuriates us all so much..."

A slight groan from their charge swiftly broke the murderous tension. Looking down, they watched as his blonde brows knitted together for a moment before smoothing out. He tried to shift in his sleep but was unable to do so. Hinata sadly smiled down at him, handing the ruined bowl to Shino before readjusting Naruto into a new position so that he would be more comfortable.

"...you aren't the only one that wants to hunt down all those that hurt him," Shino stated after a few moments, "Every one of his friends will be itching to spill their blood. But that will do little good for Naruto."

"...I know," Hinata whispered.

"Instead of rushing out to try and get revenge, we should instead stand by his side until he can once again stand on his own feet," Shino stated.

"...but what if he never does?" Hinata asked almost too quietly for the Aburame to hear.

"Then we will all be there to hold him up," Shino said simply.

* * *

 ** _Mizu: First off, before I go into anything else, I wanted to point out that_ _I don't really know where Tonika actually located. I'm using a fan made physical map of the Naruto world for the basic locations but since it isn't on there but since it is near the border of Hi no Kuni and Hacho village which appears to be a rocky landscape, I'm placing these villages close in the northeastern corner of Hi no Kuni._**

 ** _Naruto:..._**

 ** _Mizu: What? You hate me again?_**

 ** _Naruto:...no...just remembering how much I did before..._**

 ** _Mizu: Funny you should mention "remembering" *laughs maniacally*_**

 ** _Naruto: Wait, what!?_**

 ** _Mizu: Anyway, remember that I love reviews and critiques~! Ciao for now everyone~!_**

 ** _Naruto: Oi! What are you going to do to me?!_**


	3. Chapter 2

_**Mizu: Like I said last chapter, I'm just uploading what I have until I don't have anything left to upload. I will say that there will most likely be a lot of somewhat slow moments/chapters for a bit as I get the story completely set up. I do apologize for this. Also, I would like to apologize if I seem cliche. Can't really help it sometimes, I'm afraid. After all, as my fiance says, sometimes things are cliche for a reason and that reason is that they just work.  
**_

 _ **I also like some cliches too...**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I don't really have anything different to say from the last two chapters so I won't.**_

* * *

 _Chapter Two: Waking up unknowingly_

* * *

Hinata didn't keep watch that night. She couldn't. She refused to leave Naruto's side for more than a moment, terrified that he would just disappear while her back was turned. That it would all be a dream. So she stayed by his side the whole night. Both Kiba and Shino understood what she was going through and said nothing. Instead, the two took shorter, more frequent turns while hoping that the only people they would see would be their back up. That back up came right as the sun was cresting over the horizon.

"Kiba-kun!" Lee's boisterous voice echoed through the trees as he and the rest of their entourage appeared in the clearing, "Did you really find Naruto-kun?!"

"Yeah," Kiba nodded, pointing to where Hinata was still protectively hovering over the unconscious form of their companion, "Good luck getting her to step away long enough for you to check him, by the way."

"Oh thank god," Tenten whimpered, smiling as she wiped the stray tears from her eyes.

Gai nodded as Shizune trotted over to where Hinata was, "Don't get settled everyone! We'll be leaving as soon as Shizune-san determines Naruto is fit to be moved! Our goal is to make it back to Konoha by tonight!"

"Hai!" the Anbu all saluted before jumping off to stand guard.

"Kiba-kun," Gai said firmly as he watched Shizune's face morph into one of shock, "None of your team were clear in stating how you found him in your message to Hokage-sama."

"That's because we didn't find him," Kiba huffed, sitting down to rest for a few moments longer as Shino quickly fled from where Hinata was glaring at Shizune who had inadvertently made Naruto wince when she tried to further heal his leg, "We were leaving Tsuchi no Kuni when all of the sudden he comes blasting out of nowhere."

"I see," Gai nodded.

"It seems rather convenient, doesn't it?" Neiji sounded, eyeing his cousin cautiously, "We haven't been able to find him in three years and then he suddenly pops out of nowhere."

"Not necessarily," Shino stated as he approached them, "From what I gathered while Kiba and I fought those after him, he has tried to escape numerous times. All normally right after we've just passed through wherever they were stationed."

"What are you talking about?" Kiba questioned.

"One of them commented on how they wished we Konoha ninja would stop showing up in Tsuchi no Kuni so that "Null" would stop acting up," Shino elaborated.

"Null?" Gai blinked.

"It's what they refer to Naruto as," Shino stated, "He apparently was an important pawn to them that they could normally control except when he would notice someone from Konoha nearby."

"So what you're saying is that while we were trying to find him, we would unknowingly pass him by and he'd try to escape to catch up with us," Neiji summed up, curling his hands into tight fists, "Dammit...That means if Iwa had just allowed us either more teams or time in their country, we could have found him so much sooner..."

"Bastards," Tenten hissed.

"It does not matter," Lee shook his head, "We finally found him and we know that he never gave up on any of us. We should all just be grateful for that."

"Lee is correct," Gai nodded, turning to where Shizune was coming up to them, "That was fast. Is Naruto-kun safe to be moved then?"

Shizune nodded, a concerned expression on her face, "I...I hate to ask this because I know that it is not something that we should consider, but I would like to try and make it back to Konoha before the sun sets."

"What?" others gasped.

"We can't all move that fast, Shizune-san!" Tenten protested, "Sure, Gai-sensei and Lee and maybe Neiji can but the rest of us would just be trailing behind. Is it really wise to have us that spread out!?"

"We're all exhausted as well," Shino added, "None of our team has been able to sleep for more than a few hours a night since we found Naruto. We wouldn't be able to keep up."

"Why the sudden change of plans?" Gai asked for the others.

"Two reasons really," Shizune stated, biting her lip, "One, there's a seal that is keeping him from... _it._ "

"What?" Gai hissed, "But wouldn't that..."

Shizune shook her head, "No. It's still completely safe. But it does mean that he can't heal the way he should be and its putting his body under more stress than he should be."

"I don't understand," Gai stated.

"He's grown up all his life with accelerated healing, Gai-san," Shizune explained, "As such, he has always been able to do things that normal humans can't. This means that his body still wants to move as such but it can't to do."

"I see," Gai stated, glancing over at where an Anbu stood over the jinchuriki and Hyuuga.

"What is it?" Kiba asked.

Gai and Shizune looked at each other before shaking their heads, the latter speaking up, "If need be, Tsunade-sama will explain everything when we return."

The younger shinobi all looked at each other before accepting the answer.

"What was the second reason, Shizune-san?" Lee asked to change the topic.

Shizune paled slightly, "His chakra...it's acting like no chakra I've ever seen before...I don't know what to make of it."

"Is it dangerous?" Neiji questioned.

Shizune shook her head, "No...at least not so long as those monsters never get their hands on him again..."

"That's why you want to get back to Konoha sooner," Shino stated, "To lessen the threat as soon as possible."

Shizune nodded, "But I would also like Tsunade-sama to try and see if she can make heads or tails of what is happening to his chakra as soon as possible as well."

"But like I said, not all of us can actually move that fast!" Tenten pointed out, "We'd have to send Naruto with Gai-sensei and Lee which would leave them undermanned if they ran into trouble. Plus...someone would have to tell Hinata that she'd have to leave his side..."

"Not me!" Kiba denied while Shino nodded in agreement, "I'm not suicidal!"

"What if I was able to keep up with Gai-san and Lee-san?" Hinata suddenly supplied as she walked over to the group.

"Hinata!" the group gasped.

Hinata looked determinedly into the green beast duo's eyes, "I will do my best to keep up. But this way you will have another there to provide back up should you need it."

The group all exchanged looks before Gai sighed and flashed his signature grin, "Alright, missy. If you can keep up, then you can come with. Shizune-san, you should write up a message for us to deliver to Tsunade-sama for you describing what you found."

Shizune looked between the two before nodded, "Right."

"Hinata, you have slept the least out of all of us," Kiba pointed out carefully, "Are you sure you are up to even attempt to move at that speed?"

Akamaru whined next to him.

"I'll be fine," Hinata stated simply, "Like I said, if I can't keep up then at least they'll have someone closer for backup. Besides, I just found Naruto-kun. Like hell I'm letting him leave my sight until we get to Konoha."

Neither of her teammates said anything as the three shinobi prepared to set off. Instead they turned to where Neji was standing quietly. They stared at him expectantly for a few moments before he finally spoke up.

"What?" he smirked, "Do you think I would try and stop her? Kami no. I'm not suicidal either, I'll have you know."

* * *

 _Twenty hours later..._

"How is he?" The Hyuuga heiress asked the blonde as she exited the operation room.

The older woman sighed before smiling warmly with tears in her eyes. She enveloped the younger woman in a crushing hug, "He's alive...That's all that matters."

"Thank god," Hinata cried, clinging to her leader.

The final leg back to Konoha was incredibly tough. Hinata had never pushed herself harder than trying to keep up with the insane pace of the Green Beast Duo. Nevertheless, she did it and she kept her eyes active at all times. Even Gai had been impressed that she never fell two clicks behind them. Thanks to their speed and her eyes, the group made it back to Konoha in roughly eight hours. Once there, Hinata took Naruto the rest of the way to the hospital whilst the other two went to retrieve Tsunade from the stupid council. Damn old bastards. They were so afraid that something had happened to the blonde that they were now apparently pressing for the Kyuubi to be removed from him and resealed into either someone else or into a different container until a new host could be found. Which did not sit well with a single one of the shinobi on the council but the civilians would not let it drop so it was easier to keep all the morons busy whilst the soldiers did all the work.

Once Tsunade was freed several hours later, she immediately took Naruto into surgery to help heal up whatever both she and Shizune could not. The older blonde was also running multiple diagnostics to try and figure out just what had happened to the boy over the last several years. All the while, Hinata never left the waiting room. Occasionally, a nurse or two would wander in or out. None said anything about Naruto's condition, though one did stop to offer a few chakra pills for the worn out girl.

Two hours before Tsunade reappeared from the operating room, the rest of Hinata's team arrived. Shizune immediately went into the room to assist while the others all sat down and solemnly waited. Her teammates and cousin cautiously looked over her weary appearance but wisely said nothing. An hour later found everyone else from the Rookie Twelve minus the remnants of Team 7 sitting in the waiting room with her. Apparently Team 10 had just returned from a mission and had been informed by those in the debriefing office. Konohamaru then dragged in his team when they too learned of Naruto's return, not that any actually complained. Even Kakashi had been found and informed of his student's condition.

Now, as Tsunade released her to celebrate with all the others, Hinata found herself glaring at the empty chair that had been reserved for someone who Naruto cared deeply about. Where the hell was Sakura?

* * *

"I can't believe you found him," Sakura whispered as she entered the room a week later.

Hinata glared at the medic. She had never really been fond of the woman. She had always seen her as a loudmouth banshee that never gave her crush the time of day. Someone who was all bark and no bite. True, she did appreciate her exceptional skills as a medic but that was it. One of the very few things that Hinata ever questioned Tsunade's wisdom on was teaching the foul tempered banshee her chakra strength technique. It really was only ever used to wail on those that merely held differing opinions or thoughts than her.

Now, however, she detested the woman before her. As far as she was concerned, the bitch was the catalyst for at least half of the blonde's troubles. She constantly rejected the boy, crushed his hopes, ignored him, and beat him. She was the one that literally begged him to go "save" their runaway teammate, knowing full well his own feelings for her. He put himself through so much pain and heartache to try and keep his promise. Hinata had watched him break many a time due to it. She wasn't stupid. She knew the blonde would have still gone after the duckhaired emo but it wouldn't have killed him nearly as much every time he failed. Then, the bitch had the audacity the entire time Naruto was missing to constantly go out on missions to search for the traitor.

"I don't think I've ever seen him so...quiet," Sakura stated, standing at the foot of the bed.

"Well, that tends to happen to someone who has been in a medically induced coma for a week," Hinata growled.

Sakura flinched, "...that bad?"

"Worse," Hinata said flatly, "Tsunade just took him off the drugs so he'll hopefully be awake soon."

"That's good," Sakura let out a sigh of relief, "Here I thought that the moron was down for the count."

"How dare you?" Hinata hissed, standing up quickly.

"Huh?"

"How dare you, with all that you've done, have the nerve to call him that?!" Hinata snapped.

"What? I always called him a moron when we were younger," Sakura explained.

"I don't care what you used to call him!" !" Hinata shouted, crossing the distance and roughly jabbed the flat-chest of the medic, "That was then! Wake up from whatever stupid dream you're having! That's your teammate on the bed! You should be here, where I am fretting over him! You should have been here, worrying and praying with me for him to wake!"

"Excuse me?" Sakura gaped, insulted, "You know damn well I was out on a mission."

"Oh fuck you and your so called mission!" Hinata snapped, "I know for a fact that your mission didn't take you more than a day's journey away! Tsunade sent you direct orders to return but you ignored them! You decided that Naruto could ONCE AGAIN wait while you completed that bullshit mission!"

Neither woman noticed the slight shifting of the man on the bed.

"Tell me, Sakura, exactly what would compel you to ignore your previously missing teammate?" Hinata growled, "What possible excuse do you have?"

"I was trying to find Sasuke," Sakura growled, temper rising.

"Ah. The traitor," Hinata scoffed, "And what would you have done if you had indeed found him?"

"What else? Capture him and bring him back!" Sakura exclaimed.

"How?" Hinata asked simply.

Sakura opened her mouth to retort when she stopped. How would she have caught Sasuke?

Hinata smirked, "Exactly. You have no idea and thus would have failed. You might have gotten stronger over the past few years but so has he. You have both been trained by one of the Sannin and we all know that Sasuke is a genius and would be able to learn FAR more than you. You are a close range fighter while he is a mid-long range. He would never let you get anywhere near him. Then there is the fact that you have always been the weak link in Team 7 and that Naruto, who was considered Sasuke's equal, lost. You never would have stood a chance against the traitor and you know it. So why don't you tell me what you were really planning to do?"

Sakura's answer was interrupted by the low pained grown from the seemingly unconscious boy in the room.

"Naruto!" Both gasped, hurrying to either of his sides.

The teen's face scrunched together before his eyes flickered open. He hissed at the bright room's light but found that he couldn't lift his arms to block it. Blinking, his vision cleared to see the two clearly ecstatic women hovering over him. The paled eyed woman even looked to be on the verge of tears.

"W-Who...?" His raspy voice sounded, weary blue eyes looking around, "Where?"

Hinata's face lit up as a few tears slipped down her cheeks, "Oh thank god..."

Blond eyebrows furrowed as the machines next to him started to let out higher, faster beeps, "No...n-not again..."

Sakura glanced at the machines, "Naruto...What's wrong?"

"I-I can't go through anymore," he cried, squeezing his eyes shut as he began to hyperventilate, "I just want to go home..."

"Naruto-kun," Hinata soothed, gently rubbing his cheek, "Shhh...You're home. You made it back to us. You're back in Konoha."

"Konoha...?" He repeated weakly, cracking open an eye, "Home?"

"Home," Hinata sweetly smiled, "Welcome home."

The blonde weakly smiled as a few tears of his own escaped their prison, "Finally."

Sakura smiled before huffing, "It's about time too. I was getting tired of being the only one on Team 7."

Hinata glared at the medic, her bloodline activating in her anger. She bit her tongue though as Naruto turned his head with a grimace. She watched, counting the seconds till her crush apologized to his ungrateful teammate. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion though. The heiress's own confusion grew as the boy stared at Sakura with a clueless but pained look.

"Wh...Who are you?" Naruto asked, eyes searching her for answers.

Both women froze.

"Wh-What are you talking about baka?" Sakura nervously laughed, "I've been your teammate since we graduated from the academy."

Naruto was silent for a moment, eyes searching both women's but never finding anything that he recognized, "…I have no clue who either of you women are…" He grimaced again as he fully turned his head to Hinata, "…Should I?"

* * *

"Naruto…?" Tsunade said softly as she walked into the quiet hospital room, "How are you feeling?"

Empty sapphire orbs turned their attention from the window to the village leader. For a brief moment, she could have sworn that she saw a flash of recognition within them but it disappeared too quickly to be sure. Pain grasped her heart as she crossed the room, sitting down on the edge of his bed. Her amber brown eyes wavered for a moment before she fought back her tears and put on a fake smile for his benefit.

"I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Senju Tsunade. I'm the Godaime Hokage of Konoha," Tsunade introduced, "I will also be your personal doctor so if there is anything that hurts or is uncomfortable, please tell me right away."

Naruto was quiet, staring at the older blonde for several minutes as she explained what she did while he was unconscious and what she still needed to do. All the while, one question filled his head…

"Um…Can I ask you something?" Naruto sounded, voice quieter than the woman had ever heard in her life.

"Of course," Tsunade nodded.

Naruto paused, diverting his eyes for a moment before they returned filled with pained curiosity, "A-Are you m-my…my mom?"

Tsunade blinked, eyes wide. She didn't say anything right away and probably would have continued to do so when she noticed the weak boy before her fidgeting as he awaited an answer. Slowly, she shook her head no. Instantly, the boy deflated. His eyes dulled as he sunk back into his pillows, "O-Oh…I-I see…"

"Naruto…wh-why did you think I was your mom?" Tsunade asked, a slight hope carving a spot out in her heart.

Naruto shrugged, sad sapphire eyes locking with her own, "…Because the second I saw you, I felt like I was looking at my mom or something…It's…It's hard to explain, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade winced at the name, "Naruto, please…please don't call me that. Now, I hope you don't mind if I ask you another question."

He responded by shaking his head no.

"D-Did you…" Tsunade paused to clear her throat, "Did you possibly remember anything when you felt that?"

Naruto thought for a moment before shaking his head no, "No ma'am. Just the feeling…but this wasn't the first time I felt something of the sort…"

"Really? When was the first?" Tsunade questioned.

"When those girls were fighting in front of me," Naruto stated slowly, "The girl with pink hair…she said I was a teammate but I think she was lying to me."

"What makes you say that?"

"All I felt when I looked at her was pain," Naruto whispered, eyes clouding over as his right hand clutched his heart, "Right here…I don't like it, Hokag-…Tsunade-sama."

"I…see," Tsunade slowly nodded, mind trying to fill in pieces, "Did you by any chance feel anything when you looked at the other girl?"

Naruto nodded, "…She felt…like good... I can't describe it very well. She just made me feel like I was safe…"

Tsunade made a mental note to possibly look into what he was talking about before she smiled gently at him, "Well, going back to your question. No, I am not your mother, Naruto. But you did call me baa-chan and seemed to think of me as such. Likewise, I often thought of you like a grandson. In fact, we're actually distantly related so there is that too."

"baa-chan?" Naruto repeated, eyebrows furrowed, "But you don't look like one…"

Tsunade laughed slightly, "That's cause I'm super vain and keep up a genjutsu to hide my true appearance. In reality, I'm actually fifty-three."

Naruto's eyes nearly bugged out of his head making the Hokage chuckle.

"As such, if you want to call me Tsunade baa-chan or whatever, that's fine," Tsunade snickered, "You're the only one that will ever be allowed to call me as such so be happy about that."

"O-Okay," Naruto slowly nodded.

"Now…" Tsunade sighed heavily, "Is there anything at all that you remember?"

Naruto shook his head, "I've been trying to since those girls left to go get you," He paused before hesitantly looking at Tsunade, "Um…Tsu-Tsunade obaa-san?"

"Obaa-san?" Tsunade repeated, unused to the boy calling her as such but overjoyed that he was not calling her as her position dictated.

"Wh-Where are my parents?" Naruto asked, eyes pleading with her, "Aren't they worried about me?"

Tsunade's eyes widened before softening to look at him sadly, "Oh, Naruto…I'm so sorry but…" she bit her lip as she fought to try and think of how to put it gently, "you're an orphan. Both your parents died the day of your birth."

Blue eyes widened before the youth nodded solemnly. It was strange. He wasn't upset to find out about his parents though he wondered if it was just because of how he didn't remember them. If anything, it just confirmed what he had already guessed. But that didn't explain the hole that he felt within his heart when he thought of them…

"…what were their names?" Naruto asked after a few moments.

"That isn't my place to tell you," Tsunade stated quietly, "You're godfather will tell you when he thinks your mentally strong enough to know. Right now, we have to be careful not to stress your mind to much since we don't know exactly what is wrong."

Naruto nodded in understanding, "…so what happened to me?"

Tsunade sighed, running a hand through her bangs, "I wish I could tell you, brat. Nobody's seen you for three years. You were separated from your godfather and apparently kidnapped. Other than that, we know next to nothing…besides what has changed about you…"

"Changed?" Naruto tilted his head.

"The main thing is your chakra," Tsunade sighed.

"Chakra?" Naruto repeated.

Tsunade smiled slightly, "Don't worry about stressing about all the terms I'm going to be throwing around. I'll have someone help you relearn what you need to know once you're out of the hospital. But basically chakra is what powers almost every move that we shinobi use in fights."

"I see," Naruto said, eyes beginning to shimmer with curiosity. He was finally getting some answers! Maybe not the answers he wanted but answers none the less!

"Now, before you disappeared, you had very large amounts of chakra and it was actually pretty potent," Tsunade explained, "But now, you have at least three times as much and its twice as dense thus making it enormously more potent than it had previously been. I've never seen anything like this outside of experimentations that were banned long ago due to their inhumane methods of achieving it. And even then, I've never seen this much chakra as dense as yours is now."

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked quietly.

"…That you were most likely the subject of extremely cruel experiments," Tsunade stated coldly, "The only reason you don't have any marks of these experiments is thanks to your incredibly strong healing factor which I will get to later."

Naruto quietly took in this information. He lifted a hand to look at it with analyzing eyes.

"But that wasn't the only change to your chakra," Tsunade stated, gently grabbing his hand, "May I show you?"

"Show me?" Naruto blinked before staring at glowing blue fingers that hovered just above his flesh.

Tsunade nodded, "To show you, I need to cut you a bit. I'm sorry but it won't hurt much. Is this okay, Naruto?"

Slowly Naruto nodded. The fingers pressed down gently on his palm and he could feel his flesh being cut. Hissing in pain, he watched as the woman quickly retracted her hand. Before he could ask what was next, he watched both her hands glow a pale green. She cupped his hand within her own. He was about to ask what she was doing when he felt the cut being healed. His eyes widened in amazement before they did so in shock. For not a second later, he could literally feel all of the chakra in his body being transformed to match the healing chakra that the Hokage was using. He gasped at the tingly feeling taking over his synapses.

"Normally, when someone uses medical ninjutsu to heal another, their chakra's do not interact. The medic's heals the wound, never affecting anything that the victim does in the meantime," Tsunade explained, dropping her hands, "But yours is acting like no chakra I have ever seen before. There appears to be a threshold but, whenever any other type of concentrated chakra comes in contact with your own, such as my medical chakra, all of the chakra in your body changes to match it. It morphs basically.

"Like I said, I have never seen anything like this before," Tsunade continued while Naruto stared at his hand in shock, "If I had to compare your chakra to anything, it would have to be stem cells."

"Stem cells?" Naruto sounded.

"Basically cells from a fetus," Tsunade explained, "These cells can turn into any other kind of bodily cell so long as the conditions are all met. Just like your chakra does now."

"Oh…is that a bad thing?" Naruto asked innocently.

Tsunade shook her head, "No, just unusual. I don't know what it will mean if you ever decide to go back into the shinobi ranks but as far as I can tell it doesn't seem to be anything that will cause you pain or any difficulties."

"…" Naruto turned back to the window for a second, taking in all of the village that he could see, "Obaa-san…Was I a ninja before?"

Tsunade smiled sadly, pulling the frail boy in for a warm hug, "Yes, Naruto. You were a wonderful ninja. You were actually training to one day become Hokage."

"Hokage?" Naruto blinked, not fighting the embrace but not returning it, "Like you, obaa-san?"

"Yes," Tsunade nodded, squeezing him a little harder, "You wanted to be the leader of this village with every fiber of your being."

Naruto was quiet for a moment. Eventually, he brought up his good arm to finally return the woman's hug. His mind was reeling. Did this mean that he had been strong? He didn't feel strong. Did he have a lot of friends? If so, why hadn't anyone but those two girls come to visit him? Were these few women he had met today the only people that cared about his life? If nobody else cared for him, why did he want to become the village leader? Who was this godfather that Tsunade obaa-san kept talking about? Where was he? Naruto groaned, his mind feeling heavy. It felt as if there was something there but he couldn't get passed the impenetrable wall around his memories to find out what it was.

Tsunade wiped at her eyes as she pulled away from the blonde upon hearing his groan. Her eyes softened as she watched him try to filter through all the thoughts running through his head. Even so, he never let go of her sleeve, needing the extra support that she provided. Her own thoughts turned inward as she thought back to all the cases of amnesia she had seen throughout her medical career. Naruto's wasn't really all that different than any other, she supposed. She had often times seen patients with severe head injuries lose good portions of their memory. She had also be the cause of some memory losses, whether due to her strength or a jutsu to wipe out certain bits of information going awry. It was something that she as a shinobi dealt with quite often. Heck, she had even helped some warriors forget due to their severe cases of PTSD.

That being said, she had rarely seen someone completely forget about everything about themselves and in their life due to injury. No, this kind of memory loss had to come from someone deliberately taking Naruto's memories away. Going by what Team 8 had said they reported to her, it was probably to try and keep Naruto under their control without having to completely restrain him. That being said, his captors probably never realized that they made a mistake. They never sealed his true feelings away. These emotions then probably became his anchor and why he would apparently constantly seek out Konoha ninja. He might not have remembered who they were and why he needed to meet up with them, but his heart remembered the feeling of home behind the symbol they all bore.

"Naruto, if you are up for it, I would like to try and see if I can retrieve your memories," Tsunade said after a long silence.

The blonde looked at her confused, "How?"

"Well, in our village we have a clan that specializes in everything to do with the mind. They even have jutsu that allow them to, for a lack of better words, enter someone else's mind," Tsunade explained, "I can ask the clan head if he would take a look and see what it is that is blocking your memories."

Naruto bit his lip, "…will it hurt?"

Tsunade smiled at the boy, ruffling his hair, "No, it won't hurt. For you, it'll be like taking a short nap. But if you would rather not, I won't ask him."

Naruto fidgeted slightly before sadly looking at his village leader, "…if that's what you think is best…I-I…I trust you, Tsunade obaa-san."

Tsunade blinked, "R-Really?"

Naruto nodded before tilting his head slightly, "I should trust you, right? You're the village leader after all. You have to be smart and know what you're talking about. That and…if I did think of you like a grandmother, that means that I must have trusted you back then too, right?"

Smiling, the Hokage leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss on her pseudo grandson's forehead, "You're right…Thank you, Naruto."

* * *

 _ **Mizu: Okay. I think that's all I have ready to upload for tonight so I don't know if I'll be uploading anymore. But who honestly knows~?**_

 _ **Naruto: I don't remember!? WHAT?!**_

 _ **Mizu: Nope~! No memories for you~!**_

 _ **Naruto: But-**_

 _ **Mizu: And before you go on, you need to forget everything for a while too~!**_

 _ **Naruto: HUH?**_

 _ **Mizu: *pulls out a baseball bat* This should do nicely.**_

 _ **Naruto: *flees* Fuck you, Mizu!**_

 _ **Mizu: *snickers and puts the bat away* Too easy. Anyway, remember that I love all reviews and critiques~! Ciao for now~!**_


	4. Chapter 3

_**Mizu: Yay for getting another chapter ready~! Okay, before we get to the actual chapter, I would like to answer a few of your questions and address some things that you guys have brought to my attention. I probably won't do this very often but it seemed like a good idea for right now.  
**_

 _ **So onto answering some reviews~!**_

 _ **Guest: Sorry. I'll try to get better about describing the outfits. Anyway, unless I state otherwise later on, assume that everyone minus Naruto is wearing their Shippuden outfits.**_

 _ **AlphaScribe: Oooo, so close but not quite. It'll be better explained soon.**_

 _ **Mish: First off, thank you so much for pointing this out~! I really hadn't noticed that I had made Hinata out as such. This is probably mostly due to me knowing and working on later parts of the story that I forget about checking and double checking what I have already done. As such, I will be trying my hardest from now on not to make Hinata so much like Sakura. In all honesty, what I was trying for was making her anger a more tranquil fury but the opening scenes were supposed to be extremely stressful for her and she was supposed to be so on edge that she looses her cool. And I obviously over did this quite a bit. As such, not in this chapter but the next, there will be a scene dealing with this. I can't say that I won't mess up again but I will try not to. Again, I thank you for pointing this out to me so that I might change it.**_

 _ **thor94: Sorry to say, but this story is going to be long. I'm aiming for about thirty chapters right now (though this is just an estimate) and Naruto doesn't actually get all of his memories back until towards the end. As for seeing the experiments that Naruto went through, you guys definitely will be seeing those at some point~!**_

 _ **dbtiger63: Sorry if the title is a little misleading. It's supposed to mean more or less that Naruto lost his memories rather than him being lost. This is kind of why I didn't just call it Lost, other than that is an actual TV show title and I didn't run into confusion that way. Again, sorry for the confusion. Also, Tsunade hadn't forgotten about the seals. She had another seal master look it over to make sure while Naruto was unconscious to see what they could make of it. They couldn't do anything about it other than noting that it did nothing to affect the mental capabilities of Naruto so they copied what they could of it and sent it to Jiraiya who was hightailing it back to Konoha. So basically, he's been working on a way to undo it but is still a few days out from the village. I'll make sure to explain this all better later when he shows up.**_

 _ **Ryuujin96: Don't worry. As I have already kind of fucked up the original timeline with him being held captive for three years, this story isn't going to completely follow the canon timeline. Naruto is going to take some time pretty soon to regain his strength and show just what has happened to him. Meanwhile, a couple of red clouds are going to be making some moves.  
**_

 _ **Alright, I think that that's everything. Thank you guys so much for your tips and reviews~! I'm glad that you all are enjoying the story thus far. I'm sorry if some of these chapters seem pretty slow. Things'll be speeding up a bit soon...but not in this chapter as Naruto still has some mental kinks to get through.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I would not be that reliable of a writer as I can't keep to a schedule very well.**_

* * *

 _Chapter Three: Into the mind..._

* * *

"Inoichi, Naruto is ready to see you," Tsunade said as she led the Yamanaka clan leader to the jinchuriki's hospital room.

"Are you sure?" Inoichi asked with wide eyes, "He hasn't even been awake for a day, Tsunade-sama. Do you really think that his mind will be able to handle it?"

"I know it can," Tsunade stated firmly, "Naruto's guts to never give up and his will of fire are still very much alive. Both are dim right now but will soon be back to their former glory."

"But that doesn't mean-" Inoichi started to argue.

"If they weren't there, I would agree with you," Tsunade interrupted, "But I know Naruto. Even after all these years, his spirit has never broken. He has most likely lived through tortures and horrors that I can never imagine. And yes, it is a risk to have him remember all of the horrible hardships he's had to live through all at once. But that's not what we're doing today."

"We're…not?" Inoichi blinked.

Tsunade shook her head, "I need to confirm a few things before we begin retrieving his memories. One of which is the kind of seal that was used on him. Only then will I give the order to _slowly_ release his memories."

"You're suggesting that we space it out," Inoichi stated with wide eyes.

Tsunade nodded, glancing at the man as they stopped before the door, "Naruto is the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. Because of this, he's had to live through emotional and sometimes physical abuse since he was very young. If we just release the flood gates, we run the risk of breaking his unbreakable spirit. Instead, I plan to have him remember everything in spurts. Some good and some bad memories that you or another of your clansmen will sort out. True this will take much longer but Naruto doesn't deserve living through all that hell once again."

"So I'm guessing there are two objectives of this," Inoichi smiled to himself, "I'm going to find out why he doesn't remember and just where his memories are being stored so that we can go through them later. Yeah, I think I can do that."

"Good," Tsunade smirked as they entered the room, "How are you feeling, Naruto?"

The jinchuriki looked up from where he was once again staring out the window, "…uneasy."

"May I ask as to why?" Tsunade asked, sitting down beside the blonde.

"I don't like being here," Naruto shrugged, "…It feels too much like the lab I woke up in before I ran away…"

Tsunade's eyes softened, "Don't worry, Naruto. You aren't going to be in here for much longer. Once we're done here, I'm going to ask your old friends if you can stay at one of their homes until we get you settled elsewhere."

"Friends?" Naruto blinked, innocent sapphire eyes searching Tsunade's, "I had friends?"

"Of course," Tsunade laughed, "You had several very close friends!"

"Then why…" Naruto trailed off, biting his lip, "Why haven't they visited me?"

"That would be my fault," Tsunade admitted, "I don't want to over stress your mental state by having them all in here crying over you so I haven't let anyone besides myself and those I approve of come in since you woke up."

"Oh," Naruto sounded before looking at the older man standing beside the Hokage.

"That's why I'm here, Naruto-kun," Inoichi smiled, "My name is Yamanaka Inoichi. Hokage-sama has asked me to come and check on your mind. After that, you'll get to see everyone again."

Naruto warily eyed the man, "…will I remember everything I forgot?"

Inoichi shook his head, choosing his words carefully, "Unfortunately, until we know exactly why you lost your memories, we won't be able to retrieve them. This is just a preliminary test to make sure that you will be able to take the procedures."

Naruto flinched at the word procedures, inching away from the man ever so slightly. Tsunade, seeing this, gently grasped his right hand within her own, "Don't worry, Naruto. As long as I'm here, I won't let anything hurt you."

The teen looked between his two elders before nodding slowly, "…I-If this is what is needed to get better, th-then let's do it."

Inoichi nodded, closing his eyes while gently resting his large hand on the boy's buzz cut scalp, "Let's get started then."

* * *

When Inoichi opened his eyes next, he found himself in a small off white room with four doors. He looked around, flinching from the dark aura emanating from two of the four doors. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing that the Kyuubi was still able to be sensed within the boy's mind, despite the seal that kept the two apart. The blond made a note to himself to check the connection later. As he turned from those two, he noticed that one of the remaining doors matched in color of his surroundings so well that it might have been missed. Yet another aspect he'd have to inspect later. Inoichi looked to the final door before slowly pulling it open. As it creaked open, he entered into a dark hallway that seemed to go on forever. He slowly made his way through the darkness, looking over everything in awe.

This was not his first time in a mind of a jinchuriki. During the war, Inoichi had been called back from his post to help one Uzumaki Kushina deal with a severe mental breakdown. It should have been his father but the man himself had become gravely ill and had already passed the mantle of clan head onto the blonde. As such, he was suddenly in the know about some of the village's darkest secrets. Including who the current Kyuubi jinchuriki is.

The mind of a jinchuriki was a fascinating thing. They were so unlike any other mind he had ever come across. They had to have a mental strength that was far greater than the average member of his own clan. This allowed their mindscapes to alter frequently, matching to fit the current needs of the mind. This ability to alter their mindscapes also proved to be invaluable when it came to housing more than their own.

The demon, like all sentient creatures, had its own mindscape. But since it did not have a physical body, it's mindscape had to share space with the jinchuriki's. As such, the two beings' minds were constantly battling one another to maintain their available space. It was almost essentially having two minds in one body. The demon would try constantly try and influence its host's mindscape however they could to try and weaken them so that it might be able to take control of the body. However, in jinchuriki that are able to keep their beast subdued, their minds cannot be broken. They become vast and intricate. And in Inoichi's opinion, they become master pieces of mental fortitude.

On top of having to share a body between two warring mindscapes, jinchuriki had to have a completely separate one in which the two can interact, where their mental selves can come in contact with one another. This is something that the two must agree upon, lest it be unpleasant for both. For example, Inoichi would never get the image of the Kyuubi hanging upside down chained to a giant ball while Kushina drowned in blood from his mind. Yes, this balance was essential. Inoichi pondered for a moment on whether he should check this third mindscape to ensure that it to was intact. Perhaps that would be his next stop.

This was also not his first time in Naruto's mind. The Sandaime had been very wary of the blonde's mental health when he had discovered just how bad the abuse of the village had grown to be. As such, Inoichi was instructed to check the young boy's head four times a year from when he was six. So for a while, he had become very familiar with his mind's layout. It had been impressive especially during the boy's academy days. The young jinchuriki's mindscape at the time had been a perfect replica of the academy, making it fairly easy to navigate. But the connection between the boy and the beast was a sewer like maze that always ended up before a room with a giant cage. The Yamanaka dared not stay long whenever he found himself there as the oppressive feeling from the demon was far more than he could ever withstand.

After walking for what seemed like eternity, Inoichi finally came to the end of the hall. Stepping out, he was blinded for a moment by the sudden light around him. Blinking to clear his vision, the blonde couldn't help but stare in awe at the sight before him. All around him stood a sea of white except the one Shinto gate directly in front of him. A moment later, fire erupted from either side of him before it rocketed past the gate, illuminating three more behind the first. Taking this as his cue to get moving, he followed the fire guided path.

As he passed under the third gate, Inoichi could finally make out what laid ahead. Before him now stood an oppressive castle gate of blood red and pitch black. Instead of the typical wall connected to it, there were rows of sliding doors to rooms unknown and a walkway the wrapped around the corners. Inoichi took a steadying breath as he pressed on. As he entered through the gates, he once again saw white but now it was far from the only thing before him. All around the area were the same rows of sliding doors that came together to form a perfect square. In the exact center of said square stood a three story temple of pure white, contrasting to all the red and black around it. Directly in front of him was a drying out pond with a bridge that lead to a yin-yang symbol in the middle of the pond before continuing on to the other side. Holding up a hand, Inoichi frowned when the word "Happiness" came up out of the water.

"I guess I shouldn't have expected you to have been happy all these years," Inoichi sighed, "But seeing it just evaporating away hurts..."

Turning to his right, he saw what remained of a red tower. He walked over to the crumbling remains and once again held up his hand. This time the word "Hope" floated out to greet him. Inoichi's mouth thinned out in a tight line. This was not good. Further down the line he found a brown zen garden. All of the plants had died and the trees bared no leaves. "Inner Peace" was what fell out of a tree when he inspected the spot. Next, there was yet another ruined red tower, though it was not quite in as bad of shape as the Hope tower. Beneath it stood flames so hot that Inoichi could not approach. He once again held out his hand, not surprised when the word "Hatred" erupted up and out of the flames.

"Of course it would be in better shape than his hope..." Inoichi mumbled, noting that there was a matching pond on the back side of the white temple. As he approached it, he was horrified to see that not only was it over flowing and carving its way toward the center temple, but that it was blood. Shakily, he lifted his hand once more only to drop it in favor of holding his mouth to keep from losing his lunch.

Pain.

It took the man a few moments to calm himself. Steeling himself for whatever else might appear, Inoichi quickly backtracked to the entrance. He refused to get anywhere near the blood pool. As he made his way back to the happiness pond, he sensed another presence. Looking over to the temple, he saw the mental form of Naruto slowly come out of the darkness within.

The young man crossed over the bridge, looking over the new environment he found himself in, "Inoichi, is this part of your technique?"

"No, this is all you. This is the world that your subconscious has made to basically be your sanctuary," Inoichi explained, taking note of the rest of the jinchuriki's mind's constructs.

"I see..."

Inoichi whistled, "I have to admit, Naruto-kun. I was impressed by your mind's structure when you were just a child but this? This is amazing! Only those with the strongest of minds would be able to do something to match what your mind has done here."

Naruto blinked before looking around, "…but there is so much that is broken or destroyed…"

"Which is to be expected if you have had your memories sealed," Inoichi chuckled, walking around before stopping in front of the only intact tower. Focusing his chakra before him, the word "Feelings" materialized in front of the building, "So this is why Tsunade-sama told me that your true feelings were left intact."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, staring at the tower.

"For whatever reason, your feelings, which includes your instincts and emotions, was never touched when you lost your memories," Inoichi explained, "This is why when you saw those that you knew in the past you felt something when you saw their face. Your mind automatically took what information it still had available to try and identify them."

"I see," Naruto nodded, looking to the right at shrine like building. It didn't seem to be that badly damaged, "What's that building?"

"Let's see," Inoichi said, focusing on the small building, "It appears to be where your light and dark halves meet."

"What?" Naruto questioned.

"No person is completely evil and no person is completely good," Inoichi stated, "That building holds both your good and bad sides. I suppose you could say that that is where your conscious lives."

"Oh," Naruto nodded as the two continued with the tour, coming upon a nearly completely destroyed tower, "…Is this my…?"

"I see that you're finally starting to be able to recognize these new features of yours," Inoichi smiled, as the word 'Memories' appeared before them, "But yes. This is what appears to be left of your memory processing center."

"So since this is basically gone, does that mean I won't ever remember?" Naruto asked quietly, "That I won't be able to make new memories?"

Inoichi shook his head, "No, it is just the representation of your mental state, remember? Besides, as you make new memories, it will begin to rebuild itself. But the fact that it is really only rubble is troubling."

"Why is that?" Naruto asked, worried.

Inoichi said nothing. Instead, he held out a hand and focused on the area around the rubble pile. Instantly, glowing chains erupted out of nowhere, wrapping themselves around the pieces left of the tower, "What the-?"

All of the sudden, Naruto began screaming in pain as he clutched at his head, "Stop it!"

"Naruto-kun!" Inoichi gasped.

"You said it wouldn't hurt!" Naruto cried, falling to his knees.

"It shouldn't!" Inoichi yelled, staring at the chains that were now creating a barrier, "Memory seals shouldn't hurt the victim when I just try and look at them! The only ones that do are self-placed seals because it means that that person doesn't want to remember!"

"I don't understand!" Naruto screamed in pain, tears streaking down his face, "It hurts, Inoichi-san!"

Inoichi began to panic. What was this?! The chains that were before him were eerily similar to those that Uzumaki Kushina had that kept the Kyuubi at bay. What were they doing here?! Casting a look at the boy whose mind he was in, he weighed his options. To stop the pain, Inoichi would have to leave his mind without all the information that Tsunade-sama had wanted him to get. But staying here would only hurt the jinchuriki further. The Yamanaka's eyes widened as he watched the sky darken above them. The pool of blood that represented Naruto's pain was splashing over the sides, staining the ground. Naruto's screams echoed throughout the area. Inoichi swallowed hard. He made his decision.

* * *

 _Back in reality…_

Inoichi gasped as he returned to his body, "Fuck!"

"Inoichi?" Tsunade gaped before she felt Naruto's hand clinging to hers, tears rolling out of his closed eyes without warning, "What did you do to him!?"

"It isn't a seal, Tsunade-sama!" Inoichi snapped, hands rushing through signs before slapping both down onto the teen's chest before he could awaken, "Mind Suppressant Jutsu!"

A pained groan left the boy's throat as his tense body relaxed.

"What do you mean it isn't a seal?" Tsunade growled, standing up with killing intent rolling off of her in waves.

"First, answer me this," Inoichi sighed, rubbing his eyes, "Is Naruto the child of Uzumaki Kushina?"

Tsunade gasped before glaring at the man, "How did you find out?"

"Because when I tried to look for a seal around his memory center, those chains of hers suddenly wrapped around it causing him extreme pain," Inoichi stated, eyes hard as he stood against her rage, "And the only explanation I could think of is that he is her son or some other kind of relative."

Tsunade's eyes widened before she let up on her intent, "…You're right. Naruto is Kushina's son. I don't know all the details but apparently her seal broke while she was giving birth to Naruto which of course resulted in the Kyuubi attack."

"And then her son was forced to be the jinchuriki like his mother," Inoichi stated, pieces falling into place.

"But that doesn't explain why her chains would be there," Tsunade pointed out.

"I don't think they were hers," Inoichi said sadly, "I believe that they were Naruto's…That he put them there…"

"What?" Tsunade gasped, whipping around to stare at the now sleeping blonde, "Naruto sealed himself?!"

"I don't know what happened to him, Tsunade-sama," Inoichi began to say, "But I do know that whatever it was, Naruto did not want to remember it and did what he could to stop the pain. Even at the cost of his past…"

* * *

"Alright, we're going to try a different approach," Tsunade told Naruto when he awoke thirty minutes later.

"Why?" Naruto asked innocently as Inoichi looked away ashamed.

"It's…complicated," Inoichi said softly, "Let's just say that there must be something that you don't subconsciously want to remember."

"That's why we're going to try to invoke the ones you do by having you interact with those that you grew up with," Tsunade added, "Starting with someone that has refused to leave my office since this morning…"

"Who's that?" Naruto questioned as his door opened to reveal a crimson haired teen about the same age as him with a red scar of the word love above his left pale green eye.

"I'm so glad to see you again, Uzumaki Naruto," the man stated, quickly approaching him.

Sapphire eyes took in the stranger, mind trying to match the man to anything that would identify him. However, there was just the one feeling he had…

"…brother?" Naruto whispered, eyes wide as his man ran a million miles an hour.

The man flinched and looked at him with equally wide eyes.

Tsunade sighed sadly, "I told you not to expect him to remember."

"I-It's not that, Hokage-sama," the man whispered, eyes never leaving the blonde's, "It's just that…I didn't realize that Naruto thought so much of me."

"Well, the two of you are very similar, after all," Tsunade stated solemnly, "Better tell him the truth though."

"Right," the man closed his eyes to clear his throat, "My name is Sabuka no Gaara. I am not your brother in blood, Naruto. But I do feel as if we were close and did think of you as a brother as well."

"O-Oh," Naruto said, face falling.

"It makes me very happy to hear that you felt the same towards me," Gaara smiled slightly, "After all, I owe my entire existence to you."

"Huh?" Naruto blinked.

"You saved me from myself, Naruto," Gaara stated, eyes locking with the blonde's, "I am not proud of the person I was before, only living and killing for myself. But when I met you, that all changed. You taught me the value of friends and were the very first person to accept me for me. Both of which has allowed me to grow stronger and become a shinobi who lives for those of his village for whom he has become the Kazekage of."

"Kazekage?" Naruto repeated.

"Just as I'm the leader of Konoha, Gaara is the leader of Suna, our ally village from Kaze no Kuni. As such, he has earned the title of Kazekage," Tsunade explained, motioning for Inoichi to leave along with the Anbu in the room, "Now, since he has graced us with his presence, I'm going to let him stay in here as I have some of your other friends come in to see you."

"Temari is going to kill me when she finds out tonight," Gaara groaned slightly, sitting on the opposite side of Naruto.

"Temari?" Naruto asked, "Who's that?"

"She's my older sister," Gaara stated, "She's the liaison between our villages and is currently in Konoha to help prepare for the Chunin exams that are going to be held here within the next several months."

"Oh…why will she kill you?" Naruto asked, eager to learn as much as he could.

Gaara smiled mischievously, "Let's just say that the Kazekage isn't supposed to leave his village in the middle of the night without telling anyone."

"I'm just glad you sent a message to your brother Kankuro that you were okay," Tsunade sighed, "Otherwise we'd both have so much political bullshit to deal with because of your stunt."

"I was planning to come and visit the moment I received your message about having found Naruto," Gaara pointed out, "But the council did not let me have any free time until the other day."

"Oh, I understand completely," Tsunade groaned, "The council here is going to be giving me so much crap since I've been skipping out on my paperwork for the past week."

"Why have you been doing that, obaa-san?" Naruto asked innocently.

Tsunade and Gaara looked at him as if he was stupid, "…because of you, brat."

"Oh," Naruto blinked, perking up when he heard voices outside of his door, "So when do I get to meet more people?"

Tsunade chuckled to herself as she called for the next person to come in. The door opened and in sauntered the same pink haired woman from earlier. Instantly, Naruto tensed up, leaning closer to Gaara. This action did not go unnoticed by either Kage.

'How strange,' Gaara thought as Sakura stood oblivious to her teammate's discomfort, 'I always believed that Naruto had a large crush on this girl. After all, wasn't she the one that I used to provoke him even further when we fought?'

"Finally," Sakura playfully sighed, "I was standing out there for forever."

As the pinkette came closer, Naruto began to tremble and his breathing quickened. Tsunade and Gaara exchanged a worried look.

"Glad to see you up again, Naruto," Sakura smiled, "I can't wait for you to get back on your feet so we can go and get Sasuke!"

Naruto's body broke out in a cold sweat at the unknown name before tugging at Tsunade's shirt, trying to pull her in front of him.

"Naruto?" Tsunade whispered worriedly.

"P-Please make her leave," Naruto whimpered, still pulling on his adopted grandmother, "I-It hurts. It really hurts!"

Gaara's eyes narrowed and his sand acted instantly, "I don't know what you did to Naruto, but he obviously does not want to see you right now."

"Wha-" Sakura started to ask before sand surrounded her and pushed her out of the room.

Meanwhile, Tsunade had crawled onto the bed to cradle the fragile teen in her arms. Holding him tight to herself, she soothingly rubbed his back as he clung to her, "I'm so sorry, Naruto. I didn't think that she would invoke such a bad feeling…"

Gaara sat beside them, resting a hand on his friend's shoulder to show his support. What was going on?

* * *

It took a while, but eventually Naruto calmed down enough to let in another person. Both Kages were poised and ready should their blonde react badly once again. This time, the person to enter was an one eyed, masked man with spiky silver hair. He had a sort of a lazy stride but his body was tense.

"Yo," he greeted, hands in his pockets as he stopped a few feet from the bed as he had been warned to do (Gaara wasn't taking chances and until he knew Naruto reacted well to the person's presence, he would not allow them closer).

"I'm glad you made it on time, Kakashi," Tsunade whispered curtly.

"Of course, Tsunade-sama," he eye smiled at the woman, "It's for my beloved student after all."

Naruto looked confused, "Student?"

"That's right," Kakashi beamed, "I'm your jounin instructor~! Hatake Kakashi."

"...were we close?" Naruto quietly asked.

"I would like to think so," he chuckled, "You and your two teammates were on my team for almost a year after all."

"...is he lying?" The blonde mumbled to Tsunade.

"Lying?" Tsunade blinked before shaking her head, "No. He was indeed the jounin assigned to be your sensei when you graduated the academy."

"Why do you believe he is lying?" Gaara questioned.

Naruto was quiet before sternly looking at Kakashi, "What did you teach me while I was under your care?"

"Hm?" Kakashi blinked.

"I don't believe you when you say your were my sensei. All I feel when I see you is disappointment and loneliness..." Naruto admitted, eyes colder than ice, "Why would I feel that if you really were my teacher? If we were as close as you say we were..."

Kakashi nervously shifted on his feet, "I...see. Well, I taught you the tree walking exercise..."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"...and?" Tsunade waved her hand for the man to continue as her eyebrow began to twitch.

"...Th-That's it," Kakashi blushed, rubbing the back of his head nervously, "W-We never really had time to work one-on-one..."

"In an entire year, we never had time to work one-on-one?" Naruto deadpanned.

"I seem to recall finding you doing just that with one of your other students," Gaara stated, "In fact, it seemed as if you had been doing so for quite some time."

"Well, yes, you did," Kakashi nodded, "But that was Sasuke. He had some rather...special circumstances..."

Naruto turned to Tsunade, "How long does it take to learn tree walking?"

"Normally, less than a week or so. It takes roughly a month to master but genin can practice in between learning other jutsu," Tsunade explained, glaring at the cyclops, "I can't say that I'm surprised that he didn't teach you, Naruto. Sakura, the pink haired girl you met earlier, was also a teammate of yours who I have been teaching medical ninjutsu and she learned practically nothing from Kakashi. Though, I will say that she learned more from him than you as she learned several easy to use genjutsu."

"Really?" Kakashi sounded surprise, before eye smiling again, "Then she must have taught herself based off of what I showed you three. Good. At least one of you three took to learning by example."

"...by example?" Naruto gaped.

"Though I really should have known that you wouldn't," Kakashi sighed, "You were, after all, the dead last from your class in the academy."

"That excuses you for not teaching me anything?" Naruto growled, eyes still frozen as he clenched his fist, "Now I'm wondering if you had taught me anything worthwhile, would I have been captured in the first place! If I had been taught enough to protect myself, maybe I wouldn't be laying here desperately trying to remember who I am or who you are!"

"That's hardly fair, Naruto," Kakashi started to scold, "I'm not the only one to blame. Your academy teachers didn't teach you anything either. And you were also taken in by another teacher so they should be held responsible as well-"

"Shut up!" Naruto screamed, "I don't know who those people are yet so as far as I'm concerned right at this moment, you're the one to blame! IF you had just taught me ANYTHING to keep myself safe, I wouldn't be in this damn place!"

"Naruto..." Tsunade whispered, soothingly rubbing his arm.

The jinchuriki ground his teeth together, "Just thinking that I'm in this situation because nobody took the time to teach me pisses me off...obaa-san, why did you assign him to be my teacher?!"

Tsunade shook her head, "I didn't. He was assigned to you before I became Hokage. It was the last Hokage who did so. And, even though he was my sensei, I can't help but question his reasoning now."

"Tsu-Tsunade-sama!" Kakashi gasped.

"Quiet!" Tsunade snapped, "It is painfully obvious to me now that you only took to teaching a single one of your students, ignoring the rest to their own devices! And the only student that you did teach abandoned this village to join up with a traitor!"

"What?" Naruto stared at the man with wide eyes, "My other teammate is a traitor?!"

Tsunade nodded, "Uchiha Sasuke. He became obsessed with power and left to side with Orochimaru, the Leaf's greatest blemish."

"Uchiha?" Recognition flashed briefly through the cold blue eyes, "He's one of those red eye bastard thieves? God, no wonder why he left. They're all power hungry manipulators."

Everyone in the room just stared at the jinchuriki in silence for a second. Finally, Tsunade spoke what was on all of their minds.

"Naruto...how do you know that?"

He blinked, eyes clearing of the growing anger based clouds, "I-I don't know...I just felt so angry at that name, like I just wished someone would wipe them all from existence...Why though?"

Kakashi shifted uncomfortably, "Th-that's probably because y-you only heard bad things about them growing up?"

Gaara scoffed, "I don't think that's it. No, it's more likely that you've only ever had bitter relationships with the clan."

"I agree with Gaara," Tsunade nodded, making a shooing motion with her hand, "Well, I think that that's enough, Kakashi. Naruto obviously did not feel safe with you before and thus I don't feel comfortable having you anywhere near him at the moment. So as of now, until stated otherwise, you are no longer his sensei."

"B-But Tsunade-sama!" Kakashi began to protest.

"No buts!" Tsunade snapped, whipping her head to level him with a glare, "As far as I'm concerned, you abandoned Naruto long ago and do not deserve another chance. And as such, you have no right to be in here as that is reserved for those that Naruto's friends."

Kakashi's mouth opened and closed for several seconds before his shoulders sagged. He bowed slightly, eye locked on the ground, "...Yes, Tsunade-sama..."

With that, the Copy Nin left the room. Naruto slowly leaned back into his pillows with a tired smile, "...Thank you, obaa-san..."

* * *

 ** _Mizu: Alright~! I just want to let you guys know right now that I'm not going to go through ALL of Naruto's friends because that will take way too long. I will mention them later on though._**

 ** _Naruto: *tied to a chair and gagged* MMMPH! MMMMMPH!_**

 ** _Mizu: Well I can't have you talking about things that aren't relevant to this story, now can I?_**

 ** _Naruto: MMMMMMMMM!_**

 ** _Mizu: Pushy, pushy. Oh well. As always, remember that I love reviews and critiques~! Ciao for now everyone~!_**


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